Online Reporter
Wallace Ruzvidzo-Herald Reporter
ZIMBABWE stands ready to engage constructively with all relevant partners to create a multilateral financial architecture that is equitable, development-oriented and responsive to the needs of the Global South, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said yesterday.
In his address at the first biennial summit in New York for a “sustainable, inclusive, and resilient economy: implementing commitments on financing development”, the minister said Zimbabwe welcomed the Seville Commitment’s call to reform the international financial architecture.
Earlier this year in Seville, the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development stated that a business-as-usual approach could not close the staggering US$4 trillion financial gap for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“I thank the Secretary-General, Mr António Guterres, for convening this timely summit on implementing our shared commitments to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“We meet not merely to take stock, but to act, with clarity of purpose and a sense of urgency. For Zimbabwe, this is not an abstract debate,” he said.
Prof Ncube said debt distress had constrained Zimbabwe’s ability to invest in health, education and climate resilience, as desired.
Thus, Zimbabwe was looking forward to the intergovernmental process mandated in Seville to advance debt sustainability, even as the country pursues its debt-restructuring and arrears-clearance programme.
“Together, these efforts can place our economy on a path of macro-economic stability and inclusive growth. Seville also reinforced the Awaza Programme of Action for landlocked developing countries, with its proposal for an Infrastructure Investment and Financing Facility.
“For a land-linked nation like Zimbabwe, high transport costs and inadequate infrastructure remain major barriers to trade and industrialisation.
“In response, we are upgrading key highways, border posts and airports, an ambitious programme that will be greatly strengthened by the early establishment of this global facility,” he said.
UN member States’ collective responsibility was to ensure that the commitments undertaken were translated into concrete actions that brought meaningful improvements to people’s livelihoods.
“Zimbabwe stands ready to engage constructively with all partners so that multilateral pledges serve as a foundation for ever-higher ambition.
“The reform of the global financial architecture and the development of resilient infrastructure are not acts of benevolence, but collective endeavours grounded in fairness, mutual benefit and shared prosperity,” he said.
“Let us, therefore, advance together with unity of purpose and steadfast resolve to achieve sustainable development and enduring prosperity for all.”
